Shrinking Tretrahedral Walkers go to Mars

Proving once again that R. Buckminster
Fuller's fascination with tetrahedrons wasn't as eccentric as it
seemed, Roland Piquepaille writes, "NASA is testing a shape-shifting
robot called TETwalker for
tetrahedral walker, because it looks like a flexible pyramid. It has
been tested in the lab and at the McMurdo
station in Antarctica to test
it under conditions more like those on Mars. Now, it is on the way to be
-- really -- miniaturized by using micro- and nano-electro-mechanical
systems. These robots will eventually join together to form autonomous
nanotechnology swarms (ANTS).
When it's done, in about thirty years, these nanotech swarms will "alter
their shape to flow over rocky terrain or to create useful structures
like communications antennae and solar sails." So in 2034,
nanotechnology will land on Mars." For more details on the TETwalker
and ANTS project see Roland's blog.